Malta national team Head Coach Emilio De Leo stressed that he will continue to build on the good things achieved by the team in the past years as he was addressing the media during a press conference focussed on the objectives for the national teams for 2025.
In 2025, Malta will be taking part in Group G of the European Qualifiers. A group which includes Finland, Poland, Lithuania and the loser of the UEFA Nations League quarter-final between Spain and the Netherlands. The first two matches will be played next month as Malta hosts Finland on March 21 and three days later, Malta faces Poland in Warsaw.
“We have a long cycle ahead and we are aware that have a series of obstacles. We have to work hard but we will do this with great determination and motivation.”
“During the short period of time I have been here, I started to meet the players one by one. I am glad that in just a few days we managed to meet 37 players. This is an important step to start building a relationship, this is something I believe in before we embark on a new project. We had online calls with the foreign-based players. I think we have gotten to know each other better. Our conversations have been very open and honest.”
“What I wanted to underline was that this is a restart and not a reset. Under Mangia, Marcolini and Mazzotta – at least the ones I managed to follow, they managed to become more professional, understand the work methodology and acquire tactical identity. This should be our starting point and eventually I would start to insert my way of seeing particular game situations, knowing that what we will do, we will do with courage, determination and self esteem.”
“A recurring phrase over the past days was the need to have an enterprising and courageous – what I call ‘intern-ability’ – we need to genuinely believe that whatever we need we can find it inside us, convinced that we have the ability to do what we want to achieve. The players know quite well and I can say that they almost pointed out this themselves.”
“All of this was marked by maximum empathy. This is a very important concept for me – understand what emotions and feelings they experience on the pitch. From my side there will always be constant dialogue with the players while maintaining the roles we have. Although I will be the one to take decisions, these will be taken with respect, sharing technical and tactical but also moral principles,” said Emilio De Leo.
The Malta coach would not commit to which system he would be using in the coming games.
“We have to take advantage of the good things that have been done in recent years. I think they have worked well with a 3-4-2-1 and 3-5-2 game systems. We will certainly continue to use them and develop them further but we need to have a more flexible system. It will depend on the characteristics of the players at our disposal and the game strategy, how the opponents will try to attack us. Our objective is to have a team which is able to play more than one system, is able to change shape and system. Having players who could cover more than one role. A proactive side and not a submissive one – a team which tries to impose the game although of course, there will be difficulties.”
When asked for an opinion about the domestic league, De Leo said that together with his staff, he watched a number of matches since their arrival although they had already started evaluating the level of the game through videos. He said the competitivity was evident and that some matches he saw were particularly balanced. The Malta coach added that some teams need to be more enterprising, something which he plans to do with the national team.
“I noticed that some of the teams are well-organised. There are players who left a good impression but I want to point out that the doors are open for all. Today, we even had a meeting with a player from the Challenge League after he impressed in a game where we saw him in action. The doors are open for all – the more experienced players and the younger players.”
De Leo will be making his first call-up on March 13. Definitely ruled out is Gabriel Bohrer Mentz who was sent off in the last match from the UEFA Nations League against Andorra and has been handed a three-match ban but James Carragher and Ilyas Chouaref could receive their first call-up after both obtained their Maltese passport thanks to Maltese ancestry.